Does the Richness of the Few Benefit Us All?

Translated from English by N. Edelman. – Moscow: Gaidar Institute Press, 2015 (Logos Journal Library). – 162 p. 

ISBN 5-91129-411-1 

It is commonly believed that the best way to help the poor is to let the rich get richer, that everyone benefits when the rich pay less in taxes, and that, ultimately, their wealth is good for us all. But these common ideas are contradicted by experience, research, and simple logic. This discrepancy between ideas and facts forces us to stop and ask: why do these ideas persist despite the growing body of evidence that contradicts them? 

Bauman examines in detail the implicit assumptions and unreflected beliefs that underlie such ideas and shows that they would hardly have survived if they did not play a major role in maintaining existing social inequality.